Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Harris giving Sixers extra zip rather than mouthing it to fans
PHILADELPHIA » He was overpaid and not always productive. He once mouthed an order to the fans to zip it. Advertised as a missing piece to a championship project, he has yet to squeeze the Sixers into a third playoff round. He is prone to slumps.
For all of those reasons — as per a fan-player tolerance scale in place for decades — Tobias Harris should have been done with Philadelphia by now, and Philadelphia should have been through with Tobias Harris.
Yet that would have been him in the first two games of a postseason setting up nicely for the Sixers being one of the most important players at both ends of the floor. And that would have been him, smiling in postgame interviews, enjoying every moment.
And that would have been him, being cheered by fans willing to forget. So how did that happen? “He has,” Doc Rivers explained, “given everything for this team.”
In the first two games of an opening-round series against the Toronto Raptors, Harris has given the Sixers 46 points, 16 rebounds, reliable outside shooting and a surprisingly effective defensive hedge against lengthy Pascal Siakam. In a 112-97 Game 2 victory Monday, he double-doubled with 20 and 10, shooting 7-for-11, including 3-for-3 from the arc.
The Raptors so lacking in high-level talent that it’s stunning they are in the playoffs
at all, Harris is no more a reason for the Sixers’ 2-0 series lead than Joel Embiid, James Harden or Tyrese Maxey. But he is no less a reason, either, and with that has been a key piece in the standard fourstar requirement for any team to seriously stalk an NBA championship.
“Tobias has been so great for us,” Rivers said. “He is playing without thought. He’s just being aggressive, straight line. That’s been great for us.”
It was only three months ago that Harris was thinking, and out loud, too. Caught in a shooting slump, the fans weary of waiting for him to play like a player deserving $35 million a year, the Sixers yet to find their 2022 rhythm, he was caught on video seeming to wave his arms to encourage even more bitter heckling. Then, after making a shot in an eventual 133-113 victory over Houston, he was seen mouthing, “Don’t bleeping clap.”
Harris’ attitude was a little
untoward, given that ticket-buyers choosing to clap is the reason NBA pay stubs are so long. Philadelphia fans, though, are not as predictable as they seem. They respect those willing to engage in good fight, and they can shake hands when the fight is over.
“It was obviously frustration,” Harris said at the time. “I understand our fan base boos at times. They also cheer for us louder than anybody. I don’t want anybody to get it twisted. I love our fan base. They are our sixth man.
“Something that I learned from it is to keep it cool all the way around and be who I am.”
That was enough of an antibiotic to reduce the infection. But Harris needed to do more. He needed to play better. So, he did. And two games into what the Sixers are right to believe can be a prolonged postseason, he is back to performing at the level the club expected when it hauled him in from Rivers’
Clippers at the 2019 trade deadline.
“He’s been great,” Rivers said. “He’s helping now. He’s got a tough guard in Siakam. So this is as focused as I’ve seen Tobias defensively. Ever. I’m saying here and L.A. He’s been fantastic.”
Harris is not a $180,000,000 value and may never realize his dream to play in an All-Star Game. But that money is spent. So the best the Sixers can hope is that he is as productive a third-or-fourth “star” as there is on any roster. He is that.
“For me, everything feels well,” Harris said after Game 2. “Health-wise, I’m all good. It’s just getting out there and getting in a rhythm to have that confidence.
“Throughout this whole season, after the All-Star break, I was just finding my rhythm, shooting the threeball, and coming out and using that to my advantage. It just opens the floor for myself and the team.”
It’s working — for Harris, for the Sixers, for the fans.
“He has had to make more changes than anybody on our team,” Rivers said. “And he keeps doing it without complaint. It’s such a great example for what a good teammate should be and he’s doing it every night.” For that, Harris smiled. “That’s such a nice comment from Doc,” he said, before shouting-out his favorite cookie shop. “I think I’ll buy him a box of Crumbl, just for that.”
Just one more treat from a popular-again Sixer.